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on Environmental Economics |
| By: | Senaratne, Athula; Scarborough, Helen |
| Abstract: | Coping with Climatic Variability by Rain-fed Farmers in Dry Zone, Sri Lanka: Towards Understanding Adaptation to Climate Change |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100707&r=env |
| By: | Acworth, William; Edwards, Astrid |
| Abstract: | With agriculture occupying approximately sixty per cent of Australiaâs land surface, policy makers, scientists and land managers are becoming increasingly interested in opportunities to sequester greenhouse emissions through land use change. The announcement of the Labor Governmentâs Carbon Farming Initiative brings Australian agriculture a step closer to participating in recognised domestic and international climate change mitigation action. In this paper, the costs and opportunities for carbon sequestration options under the Carbon Farming Initiative are assessed. The following section discusses the substantial hidden costs that may be associated with an offset trading scheme and potential for these costs to substantially shrink the size of the market. The paper concludes by presenting some potential solutions to the challenges raised and identifies some critical questions for policy makers. |
| Keywords: | carbon trading, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100528&r=env |
| By: | Warr, Peter; Yusuf, Arief Anshory |
| Abstract: | Indonesia has set the target that by the year 2020 its emissions of greenhouse gases will be reduced by 26 per cent relative to business-as-usual conditions. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of a subsidy to the use of land in forestry as a means of achieving this goal. The analysis uses a general equilibrium model of the Indonesian economy characterized by explicit treatment of land use, disaggregated by industry and by region. The results of the analysis indicate that the subsidy cost of permanently reducing carbon emissions by 26% is a little over US$1 per metric tonne of carbon emissions abated. This cost needs to be compared with that of alternative instruments and with the price of carbon that might be agreed under the proposed REDD scheme (Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Land Degradation), to be administered through the World Bank and the UN. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100730&r=env |
| By: | Daiju Narita |
| Abstract: | It is often emphasized that the primary economic solution to climate change is the introduction of a carbon pricing system (tax or tradable permits) anchored to the social cost of carbon. This standard argument, however, misses the fact that if emission reduction is sought through the use of technologies with network externalities, the level of emission reduction can become expectation-driven rather than uniquely determined by the level of carbon price. Using a simple model, the paper discusses the possibility that the effectiveness of carbon policy is influenced by firms’ belief on carbon policy and technology penetration in the future – in extreme cases, expectations prevail over policy. This feature highlights the danger of overemphasis on finding the “right” carbon price in policy making and the role of climate policy as expectation management |
| Keywords: | climate policy, technology choice, expectations, multiple equilibria |
| JEL: | Q54 O33 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1681&r=env |
| By: | Tee, James; Scarpa, Ricardo; Marsh, Dan; Guthrie, Graeme |
| Abstract: | Climate change is one of the toughest challenges facing the world today. Putting a price on carbon emissions is an important step towards climate change mitigation. A cap and trade system is one of the ways to create a carbon price. The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZETS) is the worldâs first economy-wide cap and trade system that covers all sectors and all 6 greenhouse gases. Forestry is a major part of the NZETS, allowing foresters to earn carbon credits for new forests planted on and after 1st January 1990 (afforestation and reforestation). At the same time, the NZETS also makes foresters liable for harvesting new forests planted on and after 1st January 1990, and deforesting forests existing on and before 31st December 1989. In this paper, we perform an economic analysis of how a carbon price will likely affect the returns and forestry management behaviour in new forests in New Zealand. Previous works have used the NPV/LEV (fixed harvesting) analysis where the forest is assumed to be harvested (in future) at the estimated optimal rotation age regardless of timber prices at that time. Other works have employed the Real Options approaches (flexible harvesting) where sophisticated models such as Partial Differential Equations and simulations analyse the effects of bringing forward the harvest decision if timber prices are favourable, and deferring the harvest decision if timber prices are unfavourable. Often, these methods tend to have higher data requirements, employ different assumptions and are much more complex to estimate. Because of these differences, it may be difficult to compare the results of NPV/LEV analysis with Real Options. Our work here applies the binomial tree method, which is a relatively simple method that can generate both LEV (fixed harvesting) and Real Options (flexible harvesting) results on a common model with the same data requirements and assumptions. This allows for better comparability of forestry management behaviour and effects of carbon price. The forestry valuations are analysed under a stochastic timber price and a constant carbon price. This paper concludes with some implications on policy in New Zealand. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100703&r=env |
| By: | Jaraite, Jurate (CERE, Centre for Environmental and Resource Economics); Di Maria, Corrado (Economics and Finance Research Group) |
| Abstract: | This study uses the EU public power generating sector as a case study to investigate the environmental efficiency and productivity enhancing performance of the EU ETS in its pilot phase. Using Data Envelopment Analysis methods, we measures the environmental efficiency and the productivity growth registered in public power generation across the EU over the 1996-2007 period. In the second stage of our analysis we attempt to explain changes in productivity and efficiency over time using state-of-the-art econometric techniques. Our analysis suggests two conclusions: on the one hand carbon pricing led to an increase in environmental efficiency and to a shift outwards of the technological frontier; on the other hand, the overly generous allocation of emission permits had a negative impact on both measures. These results are shown to be quite robust to changes in controls and specifications. |
| Keywords: | Emissions Trading; EU ETS; Environmental Efficiency; Productivity GrowthM; Data Envelopment Analysis |
| JEL: | O38 Q48 Q58 |
| Date: | 2011–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:slucer:2011_003&r=env |
| By: | Alain Ayong Le Kama (EQUIPPE, Université de Lille); Aude Pommeret (Université de Lausanne and IREGE, Université de Savoie); Fabien Prieur (INRA-LAMETA, Université Montpellier I) |
| Abstract: | We consider an optimal consumption and pollution problem that has two important features. Environmental damages due to economic activities may be irreversible and the level at which the degradation becomes irreversible is unknown. Particular attention is paid to the situation where agents are relatively impatient and/or do not care a lot about the environment and/or Nature regenerates at low rate. We show that the optimal policy of the uncertain problem drives the economy in the long run toward a steady state while, when ignoring irreversibility, the economy follows a balanced growth path accompanied by a perpetual decrease in environmental quality and consumption, both asymptotically converging toward zero. Therefore, accounting for the risk of irreversibility induces more conservative decisions regarding consumption and polluting emissions. In general, however, we cannot rule out situations where the economy will optimally follow an irreversible path and consequently, will also be left, in the long run, with an irreversibly degraded environment. |
| Keywords: | Optimal Control, Irreversibility Threshold, Uncertainty, Optimal Reversible, Irreversible Policy |
| JEL: | D81 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2011.14&r=env |
| By: | Kragt, ME; Pannell, DJ; Robertson, MJ |
| Abstract: | The Australian government has identified soil carbon sequestration on agricultural lands as a potential strategy to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Industry and government claim providing positive incentives for farmers to change their land management will be cost can result in significant carbon sequestration in agricultural soils. There is, however, little information about the costs or benefits of agricultural soil carbon sequestration to test these claims. The objective of this study is to assess the costs of alternative land-use and land practises that will increase soil carbon sequestration, for a case study of the WA Wheat belt. The analysis integrates biophysical modelling of carbon sequestration with whole-farm economic modelling, to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of alternative carbon storage practices. Preliminary results suggest that, even under low commodity price scenarios, the opportunit sequestering carbon are considerable. We discuss the implications of our findings for policy development. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Bio-economic modelling, Greenhouse gases, Soil carbon, Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100575&r=env |
| By: | Daigneault, Adam |
| Abstract: | Despite the importance of the agricultural and downstream processing sectors in the New Zealand economy, there is no tradition of using partial or general equilibrium models to evaluate policies or other measures directed at the agricultural sector. Policy-makers have instead relied on the development of ad hoc scenarios of land use change, farm budget models, and simple multiplier analysis of flow-on effects. To redress this situation, we have developed a catchment-scale partial equilibrium framework based on the US REAP model, which we have thus far calibrated for two different catchments. In this paper, we present an application of the model to the Hurunui Catchment in North Canterbury in which we assess several scenarios for the development of irrigated area under several water storage options. This application is timely, given that there are increasing pressures on water resources in the catchment, and frequent conflicts between abstractive users (mainly pastoral), recreational users (e.g. kayaking, fishing) users, and environmental needs. Currently, a private consortium are pursuing storage options similar to those that we have modelled, while a newly constituted Water Management Zone Committee is tasked with developing a strategic approach to managing water in the Hurunui and adjacent Waiau catchments. In addition, water quality limits are also being developed in the Hurunui catchment. Our modelling approach includes pastoral (dairy, sheep, beef and deer), arable, horticultural and forestry enterprises along with an array of management including various irrigation and fertiliser regimes. The model allows us to test policy scenarios for addressing environmental issues such as mitigating climate change and improving water quality, and changes in resource constraints such as water availability. Using a profit maximizing objective function we compare the impact of the proposed irrigation scenarios in the Hurunui catchment on total catchment profits and a variety of environmental parameters like greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient losses. |
| Keywords: | Partial Equilibrium Modelling, Agriculture & Forestry Sector, Land Use, Water Quality, Water Quantity, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100541&r=env |
| By: | Kerr, Suzi; van Bentham, Arthur |
| Abstract: | Voluntary opt-in programs to reduce emissions in unregulated sectors or countries have spurred considerable discussion. Since any regulator will make errors in predicting baselines and participants will self-select into the program, adverse selection will reduce effciency and possibly environmental integrity. In contrast, pure subsidies lead to full participation but require large nancial transfers. We present a simple model to analyze this trade-off between adverse selection and infra-marginal transfers. We find that increasing the scale of voluntary programs both improves effciency and reduces transfers. We show that discounting (paying less than full value for offsets) is ineffcient and cannot be used to reduce the fraction of offsets that are spurious while setting stringent baselines generally can. Both approaches reduce the cost to the offsets buyer. The eects of two popular policy options are less favorable than many believe: Limiting the number of osets that can be one-for-one exchanged with permits in a cap-and-trade system will lower the offset price but also quality. Trading ratios between offsets and allowances have ambiguous environmental effects if the cap is not properly adjusted. This paper frames the issues in terms of avoiding deforestation but the results are applicable to any voluntary offset program. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, deforestation, osets, adverse selection, REDD, climate change policy, opt-in., |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100569&r=env |
| By: | Hohnen, Laura; Godden, David; Balding, Jeremy; Adams, David |
| Abstract: | Improvements in air quality for some criteria pollutants in Sydney, Wollongong and the Lower Hunter have been achieved, whilst further improvements are required for others. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100559&r=env |
| By: | Horne, Avril; Freebairn, John; O'Donnell, Erin |
| Abstract: | Policy to protect river ecosystems has changed rapidly in Australia and the mechanisms to both establish and manage environmental water are still evolving. Policy has moved from providing a fixed environmental target (albeit varying between years) to one in which the environment can actively participate in the market, with the possibility of better fulfilling variable water requirements. However, the inherent nature of the Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL), established under the Water Act 2007, is that it represents a fixed allocation to the environment. This paper considers the interaction the new SDL for the Murray Darling Basin and potential issues arising from the interaction with the government buyback intiative. While both the SDL and buyback have been discussed extensively, the interaction between the two policies has received little debate. Pairing these two policy initiatives will have implications for the flexibility of an environmental water reserve (EWR) and the ability for ongoing trade between the environment and consumptive water users. Our position is that the SDL, or preferably rules based water, should reflect an absolute minimum limit on environmental water requirements, while the buyback should provide the EWR with tradable water rights with the flexibility to respond to shifts in the environmental water demand curve by providing environmental water over and above the SDL. If both a buyback and minimum flow rules are in place, the SDL will provide little additional benefits but increase administrative costs and reduce flexibility. This has significant implications for the way the SDL and buyback strategy are structured. |
| Keywords: | Environmental water, water markets, instream flows, sustainable diversion limits (SDLs), Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100561&r=env |
| By: | Parry, Ian W.H. (Resources for the Future); Williams, Roberton C. (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the welfare costs of the main medium-term options for significantly reducing U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, including carbon taxes and cap-and-trade systems applied economy-wide and to the power sector only, and an emissions rate standard for power generation. The key theme is that welfare costs depend importantly on how policies interact with distortions in the economy created by the broader fiscal system. If allowance rent is not used to increase economic efficiency, economy-wide cap-and-trade systems perform the worst on cost-effectiveness grounds. In contrast, if revenues are used to substitute for distortionary income taxes (either directly, or indirectly through deficit reduction), economy-wide carbon taxes (or auctioned allowance systems) may have (slightly) negative costs. The bottom line is that revenues or rents created under economy-wide, market-based carbon policies must be used to increase economic efficiency to ensure that these instruments are more cost-effective than regulatory or sectoral approaches. |
| Keywords: | carbon tax, cap-and-trade, cost-effectiveness, distortionary taxes, revenue recycling |
| JEL: | Q48 Q58 H21 R48 |
| Date: | 2011–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-11-02&r=env |
| By: | Marsh, Sally; Curatolo, April; Pannell, David; Park, Geoff; Roberts, Anna; Alexander, Jennifer |
| Abstract: | Investment in natural resource management (NRM) by regional organisations in Australia has been widely criticised for failing to achieve substantial environmental outcomes. The Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER) is a tool for developing and prioritising projects to address environmental issues such as water quality, biodiversity decline, environmental pest impacts and land degradation. INFFER is an asset-based, targeted, and outcome-focussed approach to environmental investment, and as such is a very different and more rigorous approach to prioritising possible environmental projects than used previously by most catchment management organisations (CMOs) in Australia. From 2008 to 2010 INFFER has been trialled with CMOs. Evaluation and benchmarking data obtained at 2-day INFFER training sessions with seven CMOs in three eastern Australia states are reported. Before commencing to use INFFER, CMO staff are generally confident about the current decision-making processes for environmental investment used within their organisation. In some cases, this initial perception challenges their acceptance of a new approach to investment decisionmaking. Key issues when implementing INFFER include concerns about changing the direction of CMO investment, concerns about compatibility with funder requirements, and various issues associated with specific aspects of the Framework. Perceived complexity of INFFER, existing institutional arrangements, and the legacy of past institutional arrangements remain serious barriers to the adoption of methods to improve environmental outcomes from NRM investment. Despite these difficulties INFFER is being used by a number of CMOs. However, it is likely that widespread adoption of INFFER, or indeed any other transparent and robust process, will only occur with greater requirement from governments for environmental decision making by regional NRM bodies that is more focused on outcomes and cost-effectiveness. |
| Keywords: | NRM investment planning, NRM investment prioritisation, regional catchment management organisations, NRM policy, environmental planning, environmental prioritisation, environmental policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q50, Q58, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100584&r=env |
| By: | Zhang, Yu; Ni, Jianhong; Zhang, Sizhu |
| Abstract: | The possibility of using biomass as a source of energy in reducing the greenhouse-effect imposed by carbon dioxide emission and relieving energy crisis is a matter of great interest, such as bioethanol production. Nevertheless, the cultivation of dedicated energy crops dose meet with some criticisms (conflict with food security and environmental degradation, for example). Nowadays sugarcane and cassava are regarded as the potential energy crops for bioethanol production. Endowed with natural resources and favorable weather condition, Yunnan province, China, is the major sugarcane and cassava production area in China. This paper presents production structures of these two crops in Yunnan and compares the sustainable production between the usages of sugarcane and cassava as bioethanol feedstock. Firstly, we estimated the technical efficiency for sugarcane and cassava production by adopting the production function and stochastic frontier production function. Field surveys from 61 sugarcane farmers and 50 cassava farmers were collected in June and September, 2008. Secondly, the sustainability of each crop production was evaluated. Since there is no generally accepted definition of sustainable production, a set of criteria was defined including 2 concerns (employment and food supply) from socio-economic area and 3 concerns (conversion rate to ethanol, water requirement, and fertilizer pollution) from environmental area. Empirical results demonstrated that the average production function was located below the frontier production function, 5% for sugarcane production and 7% for cassava production. These findings reflect the existence of technical inefficiency not only in the sugarcane production but also in the cassava production as well. But after considering sustainable production, cassava, which requires low agro-chemical, should be recommended as a prior energy crop in Yunnan with higher rates in ethanol conversion and dry matter. |
| Keywords: | International Development, Production Economics, Energy crop, stochastic frontier production, Sustainable production, Yunnan province, Bioethanol, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100737&r=env |
| By: | Philippe Quirion (Centre international de recherche sur l’environnement et le développement (CIRED)); Julie Rozenberg (Centre international de recherche sur l’environnement et le développement (CIRED)); Olivier Sassi (Centre international de recherche sur l’environnement et le développement (CIRED)); Adrien Vogt-Schilb (Centre international de recherche sur l’environnement et le développement (CIRED)) |
| Abstract: | Most CO2 abatement policies reduce the demand for fossil fuels and therefore their price in international markets. If these policies are not global, this price decrease raises emissions in countries without CO2 abatement policies, generating “carbon leakage”. On the other hand, if the countries which abate CO2 emissions are net fossil fuel importers, they benefit from this price decrease, which reduces the abatement cost. In contrast, CO2 capture and storage (CCS) does not reduce fossil fuel demand, therefore it generates neither this type of leakage nor this negative feedback on abatement costs. We quantify these effects with the global hybrid general equilibrium model Imaclim-R and show that they are quantitatively important. Indeed, for a given unilateral abatement in OECD countries, leakage is more than halved in a scenario with CCS included among the abatement options, compared to a scenario prohibiting CCS. We show that the main reason for this difference in leakage is the above-mentioned international fossil fuel price feedback. This article does not intend to assess the desirability of CCS, which has many other pros and cons. It just identifies a consequence of CCS that should be taken into account, together with many others, when deciding to what extent CCS should be developed. |
| Keywords: | CO2 Capture and Storage, Carbon Leakage |
| JEL: | Q5 Q58 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2011.15&r=env |
| By: | Agnar Sandmo (Norwegian Schol of Economics and Business Administration (NH)) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a discussion of the principles of environmental taxation. It considers the empirical identification of environmental taxes and the problems associated with the choice of the right tax base from the point of view of the correction of market incentives. It then presents a model of optimal second best environmental taxation when taxes must fulfil the double role of modifying market incentives and generating tax revenue. It also considers the issues of the double dividend, the interaction between intrinsic and extrinsic incentives and the problem of designing a tax policy for the alleviation of global environmental problems. |
| Date: | 2010–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1019&r=env |
| By: | Frederick van der Ploeg; Cees Withagen |
| Abstract: | Optimal climate policy is studied. Coal, the abundant resource, contributes more CO2 per unit of energy than the exhaustible resource, oil. We characterize the optimal sequencing oil and coal and departures from the Herfindahl rule. "Preference reversal" can take place. If coal is very dirty compared to oil, there is no simultaneous use. Else, the optimal outcome starts with oil, before using oil and coal together, and finally coal on its own, The "laissez-faire" outcome uses coal forever or starts with oil until it is no longer profitable to do so and then switches to coal. The optimum requires a steeply rising CO2 tax during the oil-only phase and a less steeply rising CO2 tax during the subsequent oil-coal and coal-only phases to avoid the abrupt switch from oil to coal thus leaving a lot of oil in situ. Finally, we analyze the effects on the opitamal transition times and carbon tax of a carbon-free, albeit expensive backstop (solar or wind). Without a carbon tax, a prohibitive coal tax leads to less oil in situ, substantially delays introduction of renewable, and thus curbs global warming substantially. Subsidizing renewables to just below the cost of coal does not affect the oil-only phase. The gain in green welfare dominates the welfare cost of the subsidy if the subsidy gap is small and the global warming challenge is acute. |
| Keywords: | Herfindahl rule, Hotelling rule, non-renewable resource, dirty backstop, coal, global warming, carbon tax, renewables, tax on coal, subsidy on renewables |
| JEL: | Q30 Q42 Q54 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:056&r=env |
| By: | Schrobback, Peggy; Mallawaarachchi, Thilak; Quiggin, John |
| Abstract: | People are part of a complex natural system and have the ability to actively interfere with their environment. Collective decisions made by governments represent social rules that limit the extent of peopleâs interference with the environment that support them. Environmental decisions made by governments usually carry an ethical bias and are limited by the perception of the risks and uncertainties that may affect societyâs well-being in the medium to long run. The recently published Guide to the proposed Basin Plan represents a draft for a legislative instrument that aims to reclaim some of the water back onto the environment to safeguard declining natural ecosystems in the Murray-Darling Basin. By limiting diversions into agricultural uses, irrigators in particular are encouraged to adapt water use to produce more with less; it may also affect some ecosystems that have become part of the modified landscape in the Basin. While humans may discriminate between endemic and modified components of the landscape, the rest of the biome is already adapting, with varying levels of success, to what they experience in their own setting. The policymakers' task is compounded as the changes in the social systems may be enforced through other institutional adjustments brought about by climate change, globalisation and as a response to the GFC. It seems plausible that uncertainty will rule the day and adaptation to allow efficient decision-making under information asymmetry may provide opportunities to compete better. This study assesses the complexities in collective decision-making for improving the environmental assets in the Basin and what could help minimise the impacts on the agricultural systems and improve the resilience of rural communities in the long run. |
| Keywords: | Environmental decision-making, uncertainty, risk, trade-off, collective choices, resilience, Murray-Darling Basin, Environmental Economics and Policy, Political Economy, Public Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100708&r=env |
| By: | Charles F. Mason (Department of Economics & Finance, University of Wyoming); Andrew J. Plantinga (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University) |
| Abstract: | Governments contracting with private agents for the provision of an impure public good must contend with agents who would potentially supply the good absent any payments. This additionality problem is centrally important in the use of carbon offsets as part of climate change mitigation. Analyzing optimal contracts for forest carbon sequestration, an important offset category, we conduct a national-scale simulation using results from an econometric model of land-use change. The results indicate that for an increase in forest area of 50 million acres, annual government expenditures with optimal contracts are about $4 billion lower compared than under a uniform subsidy. |
| Keywords: | Carbon Sequestration, Incentive Contracting, Offsets, Additionality |
| JEL: | Q2 D8 L15 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2011.13&r=env |
| By: | ISHIKAWA Jota; KIYONO Kazuharu; YOMOGIDA Morihiro |
| Abstract: | We develop a two-country (North and South), two-good, general equilibrium model of international trade in goods and explore the effects of domestic and international emission trading under free trade in goods. Whereas domestic emission trading in North may result in carbon leakage by expanding Southfs production of the emission-intensive good, international emission trading may induce North to expand the production of the emission-intensive good by importing emission permits. Emission trading may deteriorate global environment. North's (South's) emission trading may not benefit South (North). International emission trading improves global efficiency but may not benefit both countries. |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:11006&r=env |
| By: | Tait, Peter; Miller, Sini; Abell, Walter; Kaye-Blake, Wiliam; Guenther, Meike; Saunders, Caroline |
| Abstract: | Concerns about climate change and the general status of the environment have increased expectation that food products have sustainability credentials, and that these can be verified. There are significant and increasing pressures in key export markets for information on Greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of products throughout its life-cycle. How this information is conveyed to consumers is a key issue. Labelling is a common method of communicating certain product attributes to consumers that may influence their choices. In a choice experiment concerning fruit purchase decisions, this study estimates willingness to pay for sustainability attributes by consumers in Japan and the UK. The role of label presentation format is investigated: text only, text and graphical, and graphical only. Results indicate that sustainability attributes influence consumersâ fruit purchase decisions. Reduction of carbon in fruit production is shown to be the least valued out of sustainability attributes considered. Differences are evident between presentation formats and between countries, with increased nutrient content being the most sensitive to format and country while carbon reduction is the most insensitive and almost always valued the least. |
| Keywords: | Willingness to pay, Choice experiment, Food labelling, Sustainability, Cross-country comparison, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Q18, Q51, Q56, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100716&r=env |
| By: | Lankoski, Jussi E.; Ollikainen, Markku |
| Abstract: | This paper applies counterfactual approach to assess the impacts of agri-environmental programs. Counterfactual analysis evaluates policies answering questions: what would have happened if...? We develop a theoretical framework for counterfactual analysis based on the inter-linkages between the behaviour of agents and the response of environmental systems to the economic decisions. We apply our model to assess the performance of the Finnish Agri- Environmental Programme to reduce agricultural nutrient runoff to the Baltic Sea. Counterfactual analysis allows us to determine both the unit effectiveness of the measures included in the Programme and its preventive impact. We demonstrate that the Finnish Agri- Environmental Programme does not achieve its goals, because it fails to anticipate farmersâ responses to incentives created by the Common Agricultural Policy and the Agri-Environmental Programme itself. The social cost-benefit analysis of the Program shows negative net benefits: benefits from reduced nutrient loading are much lower than support payments. |
| Keywords: | Environmental policy evaluation, counterfactual analysis, nutrient runoff, the Baltic Sea, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q5, H23, H43, |
| Date: | 2011–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:98993&r=env |
| By: | Parton, Kevin; Morrison, Mark |
| Abstract: | For climate scientists, climate change is a problem that has a significant chance of having catastrophic environmental, social and economic consequences during the course of this century. In contrast, public opinion seems to regard with scepticism the pronouncements on climate change that emanate from the scientific community. Why the difference? This is what our research project was designed to examine. Or to put it another way: Assuming that the scientific information is correct, and that without a dramatic change in technology (and policy to promote such a change) there would be a significant risk of man-made, global catastrophe, what must be done to communicate this urgent issue to the public? We have approached the analysis of this problem by reviewing the literature on communicating climate change. By organising the literature according to the role of the major groups of participants in the information transfer process, useful insights can be gleaned. These groups include scientists, business, the government, the media and the general public. This analysis leads to an overall model of the information transfer process that highlights various issues including the role that the media plays as a lens through which the public observes scientific results. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, media, scientists, business, government, the general public, literature review, Environmental Economics and Policy, Marketing, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, 1402, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100693&r=env |
| By: | Khan, Mohammad Ismail |
| Abstract: | In Bangladesh, climatic change is likely to impact significantly upon surface and groundwater availability, as well as in other countries. The population of Bangladesh is projected to be double the current 2010 level by 2050. Demand for water will rise with the increasing demand for rice. This paper considers the optimal demand management of irrigation water with stochastic supply under climate change for a 3-year planning horizon. It also identifies the utilization of irrigation water from surface water sources to maximize the expected net social return from rice production. This is done by considering decision on dam release for rice production with reference to climate change. A stochastic dynamic programming model is developed for analyzing the levels and timing of the allocation of surface water for irrigation. The objective is to find the optimal dam release for irrigation which results in the maximum expected present value of the stream of annual net social return from rice production for the 3 years from 2012 to 2014. Net social return in a year consists of the value of rice consumed, measured by consumersâ willingness to pay for rice, less the total cost of rice production. The paper also identifies the need for irrigation infrastructure and determines the optimal investment policies for the adaptation to climate change in Bangladesh agriculture. |
| Keywords: | climate change, dam release, dynamic programming, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100571&r=env |
| By: | Polyakov, Maksym; Pannell, David; Rowles, Alexei; Park, Geoff; Roberts, Anna |
| Abstract: | The spatial pattern of landscape reconstruction makes a substantial difference to environmental outcomes. We develop a spatially explicit bio-economic model that optimises the reconstruction of a heavily cleared landscape through revegetation. The model determines the spatial priorities for revegetation that minimises economic costs subject to achieving particular improvements in habitat for 29 woodland-dependent bird species. The study focuses on the Avoca catchment (330 thousand ha) in North-Central Victoria. Our model incorporates spatial pattern and heterogeneity of existing and reconstructed vegetation types. The revegetation priorities are identified as being: sites in the vicinity of existing remnants, riparian areas, and parts of the landscape with diverse land uses and vegetation types. Optimal reconstruction design is affected by opportunity costs due to the loss of agricultural production and the costs of revegetation. 1 Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009 2 Department of Primary Industries, Rutherglen, RMB 1145 Chiltern Valley Rd, Rutherglen, Victoria, 3685 3 North Central Catchment Management Authority, PO Box 18, Huntly, Victoria, 3551 |
| Keywords: | landscape reconstruction, biodiversity, optimisation, habitat, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q57, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100697&r=env |
| By: | Hearnshaw, Edward; Tompkins, Jean-Marie; Cullen, Ross |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a systematic assessment of the sustainability of ecosystem services provided by rivers impacted by water storage projects. Given the conflicting preferences amongst stakeholders and the incomplete, uncertain and contradictory understanding about river ecology it is recognized that managing water resources sustainably is a wicked problem. In order to address this wicked problem, the methods of multi-criteria analysis and graph analysis are applied, in accordance with integrated water resource management, to assess the potential of investing in water storage projects and explore for sustainable solutions through the construction of an ecosystem services index. |
| Keywords: | Ecosystem services, ecosystem services index, graph analysis, integrated water resource management, multi-criteria analysis, sustainability, wicked problems, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q15, Q25, Q27, Q51, Q58, Q57, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100556&r=env |
| By: | Sauer, Johannes; Morrison-Paul, Catherine |
| Abstract: | We provide a new approach for assessing the cost of marginal ecosystem changes and the effectiveness of agri-environmental schemes. The approach is based on a theoretical and empirical analysis of the bio-economic production interactions between marketed outputs and non-marketed ecosystem services at the micro level. To frame the economic nature of the problem, we employ a generalized joint production model in combination with cost minimization. The generalized joint production framework allows for the consideration of complementary, substitutive and competitive relationships between agricultural production and non-marketed ecosystem services generation and avoids double counting. From this theoretical model we distinguish three theoretical cases depending on the imposed minimum acceptable level of the non-marketed ecosystem services. We employ farm level panel data for the UK to empirically investigate these cases. More specifically, to represent and evaluate the production structure, we estimate first- and second-order elasticities derived from a flexible transformation function. Results show that the majority of farms produce agricultural output and ecosystem services in a complementary relationship. Generation of multiple ecosystem services on the same farm showed either a substitutive or competitive relationship. A change in the composition of the ecosystem services output would have very different implications for individual farms. |
| Keywords: | agri-environmental services, bio-economic modelling, economies of scale and scope, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q18, Q57, Q58., |
| Date: | 2011–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:99425&r=env |
| By: | Burtraw, Dallas (Resources for the Future); Parry, Ian W.H. (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines alternative ways that the value of CO2 emissions allowances created under cap-and-trade policy could be returned to households. One approach (based on principles of economic efficiency) is effectively a “tax shift” that would use revenues from an auction of CO2 emissions allowances to reduce preexisting distortionary taxes. A second approach (based on principles of property rights for common-pool resources), known as cap-and-dividend, would refund allowance value as equal lump-sum cash transfers to households. Economic theory suggests (with some caveats) that a tax shift would be considerably less costly to the overall economy. In contrast, cap-and-dividend provides ample compensation for low-income households, though it appears to be more costly than other approaches, including perhaps well-designed regulatory policies. A dividend approach might be combined with other policies to provide incentives for households to invest in energy-efficient technologies and thereby lower the costs of the carbon policy. |
| Keywords: | cap-and-trade, auction tax shift, revenue recycling, tax interaction, dividends |
| JEL: | H23 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2011–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-11-03&r=env |
| By: | Hjerpe, Mattias (Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Nya kåkenhus, Linköping University); Löfgren, Åsa (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Linnér, Björn-Ola (Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Nya kåkenhus, Linköping University); Hennlock, Magnus (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Sterner, Thomas (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Jagers, Sverker C. (Social Science Division, Luleå University of Technology and Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg) |
| Abstract: | This paper fills a gap in the current academic and policy literature concerning how parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change find common ground when distributing commitments and responsibilities to curb climate change. Preferred principles for sharing the effort to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are compared among 170 delegates and more than 300 observers attending the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. Respondents were asked to indicate their degree of support for eight effort-sharing principles for mitigation action. The survey results are analysed according to geographical region and party coalition affiliation. The results indicate that voluntary contribution, indicated as willingness to contribute, was the least preferred principle among both negotiators and observers. This could be seen as ironic, given that voluntary contribution is the guiding principle of the Copenhagen Accord. Across regions and party coalitions, agreement was strongest for basing a country’s mitigation level on its capacity to pay in terms of GDP per capita and on its historic greenhouse gas emissions since 1990.<p> |
| Keywords: | burden sharing; equity; climate change mitigation; Copenhagen; negotiating capacity/process; post-2012 negotiations |
| JEL: | Q54 R50 |
| Date: | 2011–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0491&r=env |
| By: | Othman, Jamal; Jafari, Yaghoob |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an assessment of the changes in the availability of oil and gas resources in Malaysia. The physical and monetary balance sheets for crude oil and natural gas for the period 2000- 2007 was constructed. The net present value of expected future incomes to reflect the value of resource change was calculated based on a physical extraction and a resource rent scenario. Resource rent is gross operating surplus less the estimated user cost of produced capital in the crude oil and natural gas extraction industry. We obtained the gross operating surplus by subtracting the value of consumption of employees and net taxes on production cost from the value added of petroleum domestic products. Our findings noted serious reduction of oil reserves from 2001 â 2005, due to changes in crude oil prices, and thereafter the depletion rate decreased. Malaysia has depleted her natural gas reserves mainly in 2004 and 2005. Changes in reserves values were attributable more to price changes and new discoveries. Further, our study shows that the royalty rate paid by the state oil company, Petronas was far less than the estimated resource rent. |
| Keywords: | Sustainability, Environmental Accounts, Accounting, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q56, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100690&r=env |
| By: | Rolfe, John; Windle, Jill |
| Abstract: | Key policy issues relating to protection of the Great Barrier Reef from pollutants generated by agriculture are to identify when measures to improve water quality generate benefits to society that outweigh the costs of reducing pollutants. The research reported in this paper makes a key contribution in several key ways. First, it uses the improved science understanding about the links between management changes and reef health to bring together the analysis of costs and benefits of marginal changes, helping to demonstrate the appropriate way of addressing policy questions relating to reef protection. Second, it uses the scientific relationships to frame a choice experiment to value the benefits of improved reef health, and links improvements explicitly to changes in âwater quality unitsâ. Third, the research demonstrates how protection values are consistent across a broader population, with some limited evidence of distance effects. Fourth, the information on marginal costs and benefits that are reported provide policy makers with key information to help improve management decisions. The results indicate that while there is potential for water quality improvements to generate net benefits, high cost water quality improvements are generally uneconomic. One implication for policy makers is that cost thresholds for key pollutants should be set to avoid more expensive water quality proposals being selected. |
| Keywords: | Choice modelling experiment, attribute definition, input output definition, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q. 15, Q51, Q57, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100705&r=env |
| By: | Peppiette, Zelie |
| Abstract: | Assessment of the environmental outcomes associated with agricultural and rural policy is becoming increasingly important. The High Nature Value (HNV) Farmland indicator included within the EU's Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for rural development is taken as an example of the parameters used for environmental monitoring. The different methods used across the EU to estimate the extent and condition of HNV farmland are compared, and issues and challenges related to different approaches are discussed. |
| Keywords: | HNV, High Nature Value, environmental monitoring., Agricultural and Food Policy, Q, |
| Date: | 2011–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:99586&r=env |
| By: | Hone, Simon |
| Keywords: | Inframarginal economics is a combination of marginal and total cost-benefit analysis (across corner solutions). It has been applied extensively in analysing trade issues, however, there have been few environmental applications. While there is debate over the contribution of inframarginal economics to the analysis of aggregate economic phenomena, inframarginal economics is central to understanding agent-level decisions. This paper applies inframarginal methods to investigate the efficient allocation of water among ecosystems. The Australian Government is acquiring billions of dollars of water for environmental uses through a number of programs. Allocating this water efficiently will require information on preferences and environmental production functions, as well as the development of analytical frameworks capable of examining corner solutions. Within a general inframarginal framework, this paper investigates the conditions under which corner solutions are likely to be efficient. In particular, corner solutions may arise when environmental production functions are convex but are also possible under âwell behavedâ functions., Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100560&r=env |
| By: | Farquharson, R; Ramilan, T; Stewardson, M; Beverly, C; Vietz, G; George, B; Dassanyake, K; Sammonds, M |
| Abstract: | The Commonwealth of Australia Water Act 2007 changed the priority for water use in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) to first ensure environmentally sustainable levels of extraction and then to maximise net economic returns to the community from water use. The Murray- Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) is expected to deliver a draft Basin Plan in 2011 providing a framework for future water planning. The Plan will include Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDLs) which define water diversions for consumption while maintaining environmental assets and ecosystem functions. The 2009 MDBA Concept Statement acknowledged that in some areas less information is available to determine the SDLs. The 2010 MDBA Guide to the Basin Plan proposed SDLs reducing the current long-term average surface water diversions to between 25 and 34% for the Goulburn-Broken region. Representative farm-level models of irrigated dairy, horticulture and viticulture, and dryland broadacre, industries were developed to determine the likely impacts on farm income and farm enterprise mix if the price and quantity of irrigation water changes. Water for ecological benefits and ecosystem functioning was determined for a range of river health levels using a bottom-up approach identifying flow requirements for fish, riparian vegetation, invertebrates, and geomorphic and nutrient processes. A novel part of the analysis is the conjunctive use of water for both purposes, e.g. wetland filling and then pumping for irrigation. The linkages between changed land use and surface/ground water outcomes are assessed using a Catchment Analysis Tool. An experimental design of different proportions of water going to the environment and consumptive uses showed potential trade-offs between agricultural, environmental and surface/ground water outcomes. These trade-offs were examined to assess the impact of alternative water management on catchment welfare, and provide information about setting SDLs. |
| Keywords: | Water sharing, environment, agriculture, Murray-Darling Basin, Broken catchment, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q18, Q25, Q28, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100547&r=env |
| By: | Wasi, Nadi; Carson, Richard |
| Abstract: | In the past decade the Australian Federal government and state governments have established a wide range of programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors. This paper examines the role of hot water system rebate programs in shifting the existing stock of electric water heaters toward more climate friendly versions using two unique data sets from New South Wales homeowners. The first data set is based on a survey of households who recently purchased a water heater and exploits a natural experiment created by the rebate program to quantify its effects. The other data set is based on a set of stated preference questions asked of households who own an older water heater and will in the reasonably near future face a replacement decision. We find that recent rebate programs significantly increased the share of solar/heat pump systems. For households without access to natural gas, this increased share comes directly from inefficient electric water heaters. For households with access to natural gas, older existing electric water heaters would likely have been replaced with gas water heaters in the absence of the rebate programs. The rebate program appears to be much less effective when water heaters are replaced on an emergency basis. Data from discrete choice experiments was analysed using several flexible choice models. A newly proposed model that combines a latent class approach with a random coefficients approach clearly dominates the other models in terms of statistical fit. Predictions based on this model estimate are reasonably consistent with actual purchase data. Results from it point to considerable heterogeneity with respect to household preferences toward different types of water heaters and with respect to the discount rates they hold. |
| Keywords: | Climate change mitigation, Energy conservation programs, Natural experiments, Discrete choice experiments, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100731&r=env |
| By: | Ambrey, Christopher; Fleming, Christopher |
| Abstract: | The narrative of the twentieth century is dominated by three key trends: population growth, economic growth and urbanisation. Moreover, these trends are expected to continue well into the twenty-first century. Australia has not been immune to these trends. Australiaâs population is projected to increase by 65% to over 35 million by 2049, and be accompanied by an average growth in per-capita Gross Domestic Product of 1.5% per annum. Much of this population and economic growth will be concentrated in an already highly urbanised environment. As a consequence, the natural environment in which the majority of Australians live is likely to undergo rapid change. It is useful therefore, to better understand our relationship with this environment. Using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, the Census of Population and Housing, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), this paper examines the link between the natural environment and life satisfaction in Australia. The results indicate that certain natural environmental assets, such as national parks and the coastline are amenities, whereas creeks are disamenities. In regards to the influence of climate on life satisfaction, some unexpected results are found. Keywords: Natural Environment; Climate; Geographic Information Systems (GIS); Life Satisfaction; Happiness; Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA). |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C21, I31, R10, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100548&r=env |
| By: | Povellato, Andrea; Longhitano, Davide |
| Abstract: | In the ongoing debate of CAP reform, a new tool was proposed for farms that aims to create a new market for ecosystem goods and services that may be provided by agriculture. The mechanism of floor and trade (FT) assigns each holding a "minimum of environmental goods" that must be provided at farm level to ensure sustainability and justifies the subsides received from CAP. In this proposal we will analyse what might happen in a limited region (Veneto) with the application of FT mechanism, given the geographical conditions and the structural situation of farms, using FADN data. More precisely, we seek to quantify the regional supply curve of environmental services, provided by agricultural activities in case of floor and trade mechanism. We will use as a proxy the amount of carbon that could be sequestered by less intensive farming systems such as grassland and pastures, compared with other more intensive activities, in order to examine the trade-off between the economic goals of farmers and the environmental benefits due to the land use change provided by FT. We will use as methodology the Minimum Data (MD) approach in order to integrate the spatial heterogeneity of the biophysical environment of the different agroecosystems, with economic behaviour of farmers in case of the obligations imposed by the FT mechanism |
| Keywords: | Floor and trade, Ecosystems service, FADN, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q-57, |
| Date: | 2011–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:100040&r=env |
| By: | Constant, Labintan |
| Abstract: | Nowadays climate change event and poor population vulnerability become more severe and natural resources scarcity intensity increased. In order to mitigate climate change negative effects adaptive policies such as poverty reduction Strategy and National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA) as effectiveâs responsive strategies. There are also farmers traditional adaptation methods which are consider as local mainstreaming climate change adaptation framework. This paper has explore subjective qualitative evaluation of climate change risk management framework strategic and link its with poverty reduction strategy in the Sahel .Sahel is one of the most vulnerable areas in the world with lower HDI(0.2%) and have the highest poverty rate (over 45% of the people live below the poverty line). The study was focused on 9 Sahel countries (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina-Faso, Nigeria, Chad, Soudan and Eritrea) and their Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) and National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA) by assessing criteria such as: a) the consideration of climate change scenarios and the vulnerabilities of the country; b) the analysis of poverty-climate links; and c) the climate change institutional framework of the country. However Soudan and Eritrea donât have PRSP and Nigeria donât have NAPA. The results show that most Sahel countries does not included Climate change 2 effect in their PRSP (except Burkina-Faso) but have a better performance with NAPA framework elaboration. Burkina-Faso is Climate risk management model country in the region but policies have failed because of farmerâs difficult conditions to get access to credit and lack of good technical supports. NAPA and PRSP objectives did not achieved because majority of poor were excluded, inefficiency in domestic accounting systems and inefficient monitoring. Furthermore, donors funding problems, natural disasters such as floods or droughts; biophysical modeling and simulation insufficient data, lack of skilled labor are others reason. To conclude, it is illustrates that mainstreaming natural hazards into PRSP and the development of NAPA are a step forward into establishment of institutional process to incorporate climate change into national policies. The World Bank and the UNFCCC should coordinate efforts to support developing countries in their efforts to incorporate adaptation to climate change in PRSP. Country need to strength the coordination, networks and information flows between ministries, at different levels of government and civil society to have more efficient integration of climate change variables into poverty reduction and development strategies. Country's should also have sustainable funding and should not rely only on donor. Policies should target more vulnerable peoples, need good policies implementation and good monitoring. |
| Keywords: | Sahel, Climate Change, Poverty Reduction, Adaptation Strategy., Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100537&r=env |
| By: | Spreen, Thomas; Dwivedi, Puneet; Goodrich-Schneider, Renee |
| Abstract: | This study is a part of a comprehensive study which attempts to create a baseline of global warming impact (expressed in total greenhouse gas emission and measured in terms of carbon equivalent) associated with the production and consumption of a gallon of orange juice available in the form of NFC (Not from Concentrate) and FCOJ (Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice) in Florida. A detailed lifeâcycle approach is adopted and greenhouse gas emissions of all the steps in the supply chain starting from citrus nursery management to the point where customer purchases juice from a food store are considered. This study reports total greenhouse gas emission related with the management of an acre orange grove under the two scenarios of with and without resetting of trees lost due to normal attrition. It was found that total emission of greenhouse gas (carbon equivalent) for one gallon of orange juice produced under the scenarios of without and with resetting was 1.92 and 1.60 pounds, respectively. Carbon sequestered in orange trees was not considered in the present study. |
| Keywords: | Greenhouse Gas Emission, Orange Juice, LifeâCycle Analysis, Florida, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi10:100461&r=env |
| By: | Freebairn, John |
| Abstract: | Placing a price on greenhouse gas emissions using an emissions tax or auctioning tradable permits provide the least cost government intervention to reduce pollution. Initial effects of the charge on pollution include an increase in the relative prices of greenhouse gas intensive products and production processes to reduce pollution, and a net increase in indirect taxes with a windfall boost to government revenue. There are at least three overlapping sets of economic efficiency, equity and political acceptance reasons for returning most of the windfall revenue gains to households as compensating income tax reductions and increases in social security payments as a tax mix change package. Most of the indirect tax increases will be passed onto consumers as a higher cost of living, albeit with changes in relative prices. With a likely regressive incidence, some compensation in a close to lump sum form has both equity and political acceptability claims. With no changes in market wages and nominal interest rates, the higher cost of living will further distort the effects of existing income taxes on labour and capital market decisions and their associated efficiency costs. Or, the cost of living increase will provide a catalyst for compensating increases in market wages and nominal interest rates, with the added risk of initiating an inflationary cycle. A tax mix change package has the potential to neutralise the negative effects of the associated increase in indirect taxation. Given the expected time path of increases in the pollution charge on greenhouse gas emissions, and of the windfall increase in indirect tax revenue, the details of new tax mix change package will need to be renegotiated every few years. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100551&r=env |
| By: | Xu, Jintao; Zhang, Haipeng; Bennett, Jeff; Wang, Xuehong; Eigenraam, Mark |
| Abstract: | This article focuses on the program of Ecological Afforestation on barren lands, degraded arable lands, harvested sites and sloped farmland in Sichuan, China. Farmers were given the opportunity to propose afforestation activities for which they would be paid an specified amount. These bids and predictions of the expected environmental benefits to be generated were used to assess the net benefit of each proposal. Most features of the bidding scheme were successfully implemented and improvements in the economic efficiency of the afforestation scheme were observed. The market-based approach is demonstrated to be a practical way forward for Ecological Afforestation in China. The bidding scheme showed savings of approximately 110,000 Yuan when compared to past grant based programs. However, the bidding scheme is shown to increase the transaction costs of achieving the policy goal, by about 30 per cent compared to the previous âcommand and controlâ regime. When transaction costs are accounted for there are still cost savings when compared to the command and control approach.Finding effective methods to reduce transaction costs will be key to any future implementation of the Ecological Afforestation bidding scheme. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100735&r=env |
| By: | Edwards, Claire; Eigenraam, Mark |
| Abstract: | The production and consumption of environmental goods and services are subject to many of the problems associated with public goods. Due to their non-rival and non-excludable nature, incentives for individuals to invest in their production are often absent. To address this market failure, government agencies have used a number of policy mechanisms to procure the supply of environmental outcomes on behalf of society. Recently, conservation tenders focussing on private land have been a favoured policy instrument used by many government agencies to purchase environmental outcomes in the public interest. The majority of these environmental tenders have focussed on a single environmental outcome. It is contended in this paper that multiple environmental outcomes tenders can be more cost-effective than single outcome tenders as decisions are based on information regarding a wider set of environmental outcomes â a more complete picture. Tenders that focus on more than one outcome capitalise on economies of scope in the production of environmental outcomes, as well as incorporating synergies and trade-offs into decision making. In this paper the results from a synthetic analysis of the benefits derived from running multiple-outcome tenders are compared to single outcome tenders, to empirically estimate potential cost-effectiveness gains. The baseline policy of running a multiple-outcome tender is compared to three alternative policy options: running a single outcome tender, running three single outcome tenders simultaneously, and running three single outcome tenders consecutively. Results indicate that significant cost effectiveness gains can be made by running a multiple-outcome tender compared to the three policy alternatives. These results are analysed, and advantages and limitations of applying multiple-outcome tenders in the field are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100545&r=env |
| By: | Silvia Micheli |
| Abstract: | This study explores the reasons why countries have chosen subsidies to green electricity instead of implementing the more common Pigouvian tax on polluting emissions. I focus on the learning by doing effects from the production of wind power on the cost of future production as a justification for the observed policies. In doing so, I present two models that differ in the way I introduce learning. Under reasonable parameter values, the price paid to a firm for the energy produced from wind power is heterogeneous, and varies among the firms that produce energy from wind power according to the index of productivity of the firm itself. The suggested strategies of this research differ from the main price-driven schemes adopted by EU members; by comparing such results with European Union policy, the paper show that EU policy is not optimal. |
| Keywords: | learning by doing, environmental policy, Pigouvian taxes, subsidies. |
| JEL: | H23 Q48 |
| Date: | 2010–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pia:wpaper:81/2010&r=env |
| By: | Kristkova, Zuzana; Ratinger, Tomas; Majerova, Jana |
| Abstract: | Capturing agricultural multifunctionality challenges agricultural economists for more than a decade. On one hand, researchers increasingly build in their commodity based models provision of environmental protection and landscape maintenance, on the other hand, there are efforts as contingence valuation to assess the economic value of environmental benefits provided by agriculture. This paper and the corresponding research tries to merge the both research streams by incorporating supply and demand of landscape public good in the CGE framework. The former is done by including an explicit sector of joint commodity and noncommodity production in the model structure, the latter by extending the household demand system of willingness to pay for landscape. The approach is tested on four scenarios which are extensively compared. |
| Keywords: | Environmental public goods, agri-environmental policy, CGE models, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q11, Q15, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:99422&r=env |
| By: | Morgenstern, Richard (Resources for the Future); Moore, Eric (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | This study estimates the impacts on a disaggregated set of California industries of introducing a carbon pricing policy within the state.. Two time horizons are considered, the “very short run” and the “short run”. To limit adverse impacts on the state’s energy-intensive and trade-exposed (EITE) industries, we develop illustrative policy options involving free allowance allocations of emissions permits to particular industries and limited border adjustments on coal, natural gas, crude oil, and refined petroleum product imports, as well as on electricity. Overall, we find relatively small impacts on energy-intensive industries with the rebates in place. The average reduction in EITE output is 0.4 percent. There is, however, considerable variation in impacts among the EITE industries. We also find that the ability to pass on costs, as assumed in the short run case, dramatically reduces adverse profit impacts to less than 1.5 percent in most cases, regardless of the rebate scenario. Based on national-level modeling done outside of this study, we estimate that over the long term, the average EITE output losses with the rebates in place would be expected to be somewhat smaller than the results reported here. |
| Keywords: | carbon price, competitiveness, input-output analysis, output-based allocation |
| JEL: | D57 H23 |
| Date: | 2011–02–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-11-05&r=env |
| By: | Rolfe, John; Windle, Jill |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study was to estimate the values to protect the health of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) at the national level and to examine the effects of distance decay on valuation estimates. A split-sample choice-modelling experiment was conducted in six locations: a regional town within the GBR catchment area (Townsville); Brisbane, the state capital approximately 450 km from the southern limit of the GBR; and four other capital cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth) ranging from nearly 1,000 km to over 4,000 km from Brisbane. The results suggest that the average WTP across Australian households is $21.68 per household per annum for five years. There was some evidence of distance decay in values. Most decline occurred once outside the home state, and little further decline once away from the east coast. There was no evidence to suggest any difference in patterns of use and non-use values. The values of the potential future users were most influential in determining WTP estimates. |
| Keywords: | Distance decay, Iconic resources, Choice modelling experiment, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q51, Q57, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100732&r=env |
| By: | Burdack, Doreen; Baldwin, Claudia; Lotze-Campen, Hermann; von Witzke, Harald |
| Abstract: | In the Australian Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) the combination of severe and prolonged droughts and historic water management decisions to divert water for cultivation stressed water resources in such an intensive manner that wetlands went dry and rivers are now far from a natural flow. More appropriate water management policies must be implemented to restore ecological function. However, with 39 % of Australiaâs total value of agricultural production, transitions in use need to be managed to minimise economic and social impacts on basin communities while they adjust. Recent studies estimate that industries with high water usage but lower or more volatile value products will be impacted more than higher value products. Therefore, this studyâs focus is to analyse different water management policies and their impacts on agricultural production, particularly changes in production of water low value and water high value crops and agricultural water consumption. By applying the Water Integrated Market (WatIM)-Model, benefits and costs of water management policies can be evaluated by identifying changes in quantities, prices and economic welfare, such as consumer and producer surplus. The WatIM-Model is a multi-market model combining water low and water high value crop markets and the water market with its supply and demand. Since the MDB is a complex system with different types of agriculture and water sharing rules in each catchment, economic variables are aggregated in the WatIMModel to examine overall trends and changes in the MDB. By the assumption that policy decisions on one market cause reactions on prices, supply and demand on other markets, market interdependencies can be derived. With these results, the merit of shifting production from water low value crops to water high value crops is examined and advantages and disadvantages of water management policies can be determined. This enables refinement of water management policies to optimise social, economic and environmental outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Water market, water management policy, agriculture, sustainable water allocation, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100534&r=env |
| By: | Syed, Arif |
| Abstract: | A report by the Prime Ministerâs Task Group on Energy Efficiency (July 2010) emphasised the need for improved energy efficiency as a response to climate change to ensure a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from energy consumption in Australia. However, empirical evidence on energy efficiency and its effect on energy use in Australia is scarce. Given this, estimates of the magnitude of the autonomous energy efficiency improvement parameter and the bias in technological change in Australiaâs agricultural and industrial sectors have been made, using statistical and econometric techniques. The strong interaction prevailing between capital use and energy productivity in many industries indicates that energy use efficiency may be augmented by optimising capital use. This can be achieved by removing impediments to the use of new capitalâthat is, by making capital markets more flexible. This should ease the burden on energy efficiency policies or energy conservation measures by providing alternative ways to increase energy efficiency that do not focus on energy use as such.Results of the estimates for overall productivity, input use productivity, the influence of capital on energy productivity, and energy-saving and energy-using bias revealed widely different energy productivity growth rates in different industries studied. Such results suggest a need to revise the 0.5 per cent a year autonomous energy efficiency improvement parameter assumed in most economic projection models used in Australia. |
| Keywords: | energy efficiency, energy demand, energy policy, climate change., Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100715&r=env |
| By: | Nemes, Veronica; La Nauze, Andrea; O'Neill, James |
| Abstract: | In environmental markets, parties frequently exchange obligations through environmental contracts. These contracts imply a distribution of risk between parties. The main focus of our paper is to identify contracts that enable risk in environmental markets to be reduced, distributed at least cost, or managed efficiently. The risks that we consider are: moral hazard risk, price risk, exogenous environmental risk, measurement risk and production risk. The first section of our paper outlines some of the contracts currently utilised in financial and insurance markets to achieve these objectives. These are: futures and options contracts, spread contracts, weather contracts and catastrophe bonds. We then provide a snapshot of current applications of these contracts both in real markets and in the literature. Finally we discuss some possible applications in the environmental sector and indicate how the use of these contracts may alter the way government manages environmental assets and responsibilities. We also suggest a staged process to the introduction of contracts that recognises the current limitations faced by government. This paper does not propose new or novel contracts for tackling the problems of risk in exchange. Rather it extends the application of existing contractual arrangements to a new type of problem: environmental markets. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100576&r=env |
| By: | Kandulu, John |
| Abstract: | Climate change and climate variability induce uncertainty in yields, and thus threaten long term economic viability of rain-fed agricultural enterprises. Enterprise mix diversification is the most common, and is widely regarded as the most effective, strategy for mitigating multiple sources of farm business risk. We assess the potential for enterprise mix diversification in mitigating climate induced variability in long term net returns from rain-fed agriculture. We build on APSIM modelling and apply Monte Carlo simulation, probability theory, and finance techniques, to assess the potential for enterprise mix diversification to mitigate climate-induced variability in long term economic returns from rain-fed agriculture. We consider four alternative farm enterprise types consisting of three non-diversified farm enterprises and one diversified farm enterprise consisting of a correlated mix of rain-fed agricultural activities. We analyse a decision to switch from a non-diversified agricultural enterprise with the highest expected return to a diversified agricultural enterprise consisting of a mix of agricultural enterprises. Correlation analysis showed that yields were not perfectly correlated (i.e. are less than 1) indicating that changes in climate variables cause non-proportional impacts on yield production. We conclude that at best, diversification can reduce the standard deviation of net returns by up to about A$110 Ha-1, or 52% of mean net returns; increase the probability of below-average net returns by up to about 4% and increase the mean of 10% of worst probable annual net returns by up to A$54/ha. At worst, diversification can reduce the mean of net returns by up to about A$95 Ha-1, or 46%. |
| Keywords: | climate variability, yield uncertainty, economic returns, rain-fed agricultural enterprise, risk, Monte Carlo, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100568&r=env |
| By: | Lobb, Alexandra E. |
| Abstract: | A lack of awareness and understanding of risk and uncertainty can lead to poor decision making and higher costs for policy providers, as not accounting for them may produce policy which is inflexible and with a negative effect on welfare. Further, misunderstanding of and/or failure to account for risk and uncertainty can inhibit research and development for policy to which environmental economics can contribute (for example, in developing effective measures of sustainability). The aim of this project is to develop guidelines for âBest Practiceâ approaches to risk and uncertainty in environmental economics for guiding policy development and implementation, taking into account key issues such as costs, irreversibility, adaptation and dynamics. These guidelines are developed by examining the frameworks commonly used by environmental economists to account for risk and uncertainty (such as the Precautionary Principle and Cost Benefit Analysis) as well as specifically developed theories (e.g. Quigginâs Rank Dependent Utility Theory), borrowing from other disciplines (e.g. Prospect Theory) and drawing attention to lesser known ideas (e.g. Shackleâs Model). |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100580&r=env |
| By: | Jacqueline Morgan (Università di Napoli Federico II and CSEf); Fabien Prieur (LAMETA, Université Montpellier I and INRA) |
| Abstract: | We model climate change negotiations as a two-stage game. In the first stage, players have to agree on a global emission cap (GEC). In the second stage, they non cooperatively choose either their emission level or their emission quota, depending on whether emission trading is allowed, under the cap that potentially binds them together. When the cap is non binding, there exists a unique Nash equilibrium. When the emission cap is binding, among all the coupled constraints Nash equilibria (solutions of an equivalent quasi-variational inequality), we select a normalized equilibrium by solving a variational inequality which has a unique solution. In both cases (with or without emission trading), we can show that there exists a non-empty range of values for which setting a binding cap improves all players’ payoff. We can also identify a non empty set of values, for the global cap, such that the GEC system alone allows the world economy to reach a level of aggregate payoff (respectively of aggregate emissions) higher than (respectively lower than) the level resulting from the international cap and trade (ITC) system alone. In other words, from a global perspective, the GEC outperforms the ITC system. |
| Keywords: | climate change, international cap and trade system, national emission quotas, global emission cap, normalized equilibria, variational and quasi-variational inequalities. |
| JEL: | Q28 C72 |
| Date: | 2011–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:275&r=env |
| By: | Othman, Jamal; Jafari, Yaghoob |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an assessment of the changes in the availability of oil and gas resources in Malaysia. The physical and monetary balance sheets for crude oil and natural gas for the period 2000- 2007 was constructed. The net present value of expected future incomes to reflect the value of resource change was calculated based on a physical extraction and a resource rent scenario. Resource rent is gross operating surplus less the estimated user cost of produced capital in the crude oil and natural gas extraction industry. We obtained the gross operating surplus by subtracting the value of consumption of employees and net taxes on production cost from the value added of petroleum domestic products. Our findings noted serious reduction of oil reserves from 2001 – 2005, due to changes in crude oil prices, and thereafter the depletion rate decreased. Malaysia has depleted her natural gas reserves mainly in 2004 and 2005. Changes in reserves values were attributable more to price changes and new discoveries. Further, our study shows the royalty rate paid by the state oil company was far less than the estimated resource rent. |
| Keywords: | Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Malaysian Oil and Gas Depletion |
| JEL: | Q5 Q56 |
| Date: | 2011–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:29037&r=env |
| By: | Fraser, Rob |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the multi-period agri-environmental contract model of Fraser (2004) so that it contains a more realistic specification of the inter-temporal penalties for noncompliance, and therefore of the inter-temporal moral hazard problem in agrienvironmental policy design. On this basis it is shown that a farmer will have an unambiguous preference for cheating early over cheating late in the contract period based on differences in the expected cost of compliance. It is then shown how the principal can make use of this unambiguous preference to target monitoring resources intertemporally, and in so doing, to encourage full contract duration compliance. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100550&r=env |
| By: | Alberto Onetti; Marco Talaia; Sam Gill; Lufutus Sayeed (Department of Economics, University of Insubria, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The present paper investigated the implementation of environmentally responsible IT measures in ten American and nine European organizations. The environmentally responsible IT measures include the implementation of existing hardware and software technologies as well as organizational and managerial actions that aim to reduce environmental impacts of IT use. As a result, adoption of Green IT measures requires adjustments that may modify the physical IT infrastructure and various organizational processes. These adjustments to organizational processes in addition to the infrastructure are ‘techno-economic’ in nature. The term techno-economic denotes concurrent consideration of technological, social, and economic issues surrounding an innovation. We interviewed at least two executives in each of the organizations in our study to assess the extent of Green IT implementation. Based on the analysis of these interviews, we conclude that the techno-economic adjustments were necessary for widespread implementation of environmentally responsible IT measures |
| Keywords: | Green IT, Data Center Management, Energy Efficiency, Environmental Responsibility, Organizational Development, Corporate Strategy. |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ins:quaeco:qf1107&r=env |
| By: | Hertel, Thomas W |
| Abstract: | The number of people which the world must feed is expected to increase by another 2 billion people by 2050. When coupled with significant nutritional improvements for the 2.1 billion people currently living on less than $2/day, this translates into a very substantial rise in the demand for agricultural production. Most past growth in the demand for food has been met by improvements in productivity, but there is evidence of declining growth rates for agricultural yields; climate-change is likely to have important impacts on productivity through changes in temperature and precipitation; land-based climate mitigation policies are also projected to lead to increasing pressure on agricultural lands. Meanwhile supplies of water for irrigation are under pressure, urban land use is on the rise, and demands for setting aside land for environmental purposes continue to increase. Clearly, an enormous amount of additional research on ways to deal with this potential âperfect stormâ is needed. This paper highlights the explores the roles of biophysical and economic uncertainty in these projections of long run land use change, using this to suggest a future research agenda. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100557&r=env |
| By: | Ãzkan, Åeyda; Farquharson, Bob; Hill, Julian; Malcolm, Bill |
| Abstract: | In this study, the possible impacts of different prices of carbon on farm profitability in two dairy farm businesses with different feeding systems operated over five years were analysed. The feeding systems were a ryegrass pasture-based system (RM) and a complementary forage-based system (CF). Data were obtained from a five year farmlet trial which was applied to a scaled up representative farm model. As a first look, a carbon charge was imposed on the systems as they currently operate to gauge the order of magnitude of a carbon charge on dairy systems if they were to continue to operate essentially the same system following the impost of a cost of carbon. The main finding of this study was that overall net present value (NPV) of five years of annual operating profit for each system, at five per cent discount rate, decreased when a price on carbon, as a direct cost, was included. Compared with the status quo situation where there was no effect of a price on carbon on farm operating profit, a price of $15/t CO2-eq on carbon reduced the net present value of five years of operating profit by about 6 per cent for the RM farm system and 5 per cent for the CF farm system (equivalent to $70 000/farm and $66 000/farm). A carbon price of $25/t CO2-eq reduced the overall net present value by about 10 per cent and 9 per cent in the RM and the CF systems respectively (equivalent to $114 000/farm and $110 000/farm). |
| Keywords: | dairy cow, pasture-based feeding system, carbon cost, operating profit, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100710&r=env |
| By: | Giannoccaro, Giacomo; Berbel, Julio |
| Abstract: | This research is a result of the CAP-IRE project which objective is the understanding farmerâs reactions under CAP scenarios by 2020. In particular this research aims to analyze the role of the current CAP design on the farmerâs decision process focusing on several environmental issues. The analysis is based on 2,360 observations of household farmers across 11 cases study in 9 EU countries. Intended responses of farmers to the CAP reforms are analyzed by logistic model regression. According to the results CAP scenarios would influence farmerâs decision on fertilizers and pesticides, as well as water use, while the highest effect is found for decisions on number of animal rearing on the farm. Factors determining reaction to the CAP scenario are monetary and non-monetary, as well as structural and spatial. CAP role appears to be non univocal and strongly case-specific, as it substantially differs across regions according to their socio-economic structure |
| Keywords: | Environmental sustainability, Farmerâs intended behaviour, Logistic regression, Agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:99419&r=env |
| By: | Tompkins, Jean-Marie; Hearnshaw, Edward; Cullen, Ross |
| Abstract: | In recent times, there has been increasing demand in the Canterbury region of New Zealand for the abstraction of water from rivers. The impact of this demand has lead to unacceptable minimum river flows and has adversely affected river ecology. In an effort to resolve these issues dams have been constructed. To evaluate the impact of these dam projects on all river values, an ecosystem services approach is developed. This ecosystem services approach coupled with various evaluation methods are applied for the purposes of assessing the cost-effectiveness of the Opuha Dam and the sustainability of the Opihi river system now modified by the Opuha Dam. To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of this dam project cost utility analysis is applied through the development of an ecosystem services index (ESI). The index is constructed from the aggregation of normalized indicators that represent each ecosystem service and preferential weights of each ecosystem service. The evaluation of sustainability is considered both according to weak and strong criteria. Weak sustainability is evaluated by a non-declining ecosystem services index over time. Strong sustainability is evaluated by the thresholds or safe minimum standards where an ecosystem service, as represented by an indicator, should not pass below. Fifteen ecosystem services provided by the Opihi river were identified and data for forty-two indicators was compiled to assess the provision of these services pre- and post-dam. Fifteen regional and six local stakeholder representatives were interviewed to elicit preferential weights for each ecosystem service. Assessment of both the ESI and safe minimum standards indicates that since dam construction the river has progressed towards both weak and strong sustainability in its provision of ecosystem services. The cost-effectiveness of the dam however was poor. While further work remains to refine the approach, namely to develop more effective indicators of river ecosystem services, the work does present a novel method to evaluate the impacts of dams on river systems. |
| Keywords: | Cost utility analysis, dam projects, ecosystem services, impounded river systems, indicators and sustainability., Environmental Economics and Policy, Q15, Q25, Q27, Q51, Q58, Q57, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100720&r=env |
| By: | Simmons, Phil |
| Abstract: | The nuclear accident at the Chernobyl plant in 1986 is described and a summary of its immediate effects on people and the environment outlined. Then there is a summary of the important parts of the literature on diseases and deaths resulting from radiation and mortalities to date and the way mortality data became increasingly conservative over the years is discussed. Today, there is still uncertainty about future mortalities dues to long latency periods for many cancers however cancer deaths in Chernobyl affected regions are expected to be similar to non-Chernobyl controls. The major literature on environmental effects on wild species, forests, water and agricultural land are then reported with a brief discussion of remediation work and of current trends. Finally, contemporary perceptions of the Chernobyl accident are described in the context of popular anti-nuclear sentiment that prevailed in 1986, the immense publicity surrounding the accident and the natural tendency of people to exaggerate prospects of unlikely, yet extreme, events. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100713&r=env |
| By: | Graham, PW; Brinsmead, TS; Reedman, LJ |
| Abstract: | Bio-energy is expected to become increasingly attractive in the future owing to its potential to contribute to lowering greenhouse gas emissions, increasing rural and regional employment and improving energy security through substituting for oil imports. The volume of sustainable biomass resources that are economically competitive but do not significantly impact on food production is expected to slowly expand as new feedstock varieties and refining pathways are developed. However, these volumes will remain limited relative to total energy and transport sector fuel demand. Limited biomass resources will be allocated to the sector that is most able to afford them. This will depend on the price of existing fossil fuel products and the relative cost of converting biomass into substitute final fuels such as bio-derived electricity, ethanol blends, biodiesel and bio-derived jet fuel. It will also depend on factors such as the availability and cost of alternative fuel and energy sources, government policies including excise rates, and the emission intensity of each sector. This paper presents a number of alternative cost curves for bio-energy resource to final energy costs and applies a partial equilibrium model of the electricity and transport sectors, called the Energy Sector Model (ESM), to determine where the limited biomass resources are likely to be allocated under various scenarios. Preliminary projections are presented for biomass uptake in each of the electricity, road and aviation sectors to 2050. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100553&r=env |
| By: | Verreth, Daphne M.I.; Emvalomatis, Grigorios; Bunte, Frank; Oude Lansink, Alfons G.J.M |
| Abstract: | Horticultural firms are dependent on energy to produce, while policy makers focus on reducing the use of energy and investment in energy-saving technologies. The paper aimed to asses Dutch greenhouse farmersâ responses to policies that would affect prices of different energy inputs. The farmerâs behaviour is modelled in two steps: firms are assumed to maximize profit at given energy use level, and firms are assumed to minimize the discounted sum of energy costs. The model is estimated using farm survey data spanning the period 2001-2008. Short-run and long-run elasticities with respect to prices and investments in energy-using technology are estimated. The greenhouse sector shows a fast adjustment of energy capital towards its long-run equilibrium. This model provides a framework for assessing policy simulations. Policies will not have much more impact in the long-run compared to the short-run, and incentives to invest would result in an increase of the use of energy-saving technologies |
| Keywords: | Greenhouse horticulture, Energy, Dynamic duality, Adjustment costs, Agricultural and Food Policy, C51, C61, D92, Q12, Q18, Q48., |
| Date: | 2011–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:99364&r=env |
| By: | Liljenstolpe, Carolina |
| Abstract: | The payments within the Rural Development Programme 2007- 2013 seek to improve the environment and contribute to rural development and economic growth. These policy measures may therefore have visual effects on the rural landscape. To achieve a measure of willingness to pay for these effects, a hedonic pricing approach is applied. The prices for staying at holdings in the âStaying on farmsâ registry are used to quantify the valuation of these visual effects. The results of this study indicate that there is a relationship between the price of rental objects and spatial variables constructed in GIS. Riparian strips and animals at the farm are positively valued. Cultivated land, grazing and meadow lands close to the settings are negatively valued. Hence, this study indicate that there is a positive willingness to pay for payments addressing user values in a diversified landscape and a negative willingness to pay for actions leading to a more monotonous landscape, such as payments to extensive grazing systems. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic Valuation, Rural landscape, Rural Development Program, GIS, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Q150, Q180, Q510, |
| Date: | 2011–02–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:98881&r=env |
| By: | Ezzy, Edward; Scarborough, Helen |
| Abstract: | Southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus Maccoyii) is a global resource which is critically endangered. The Committee for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) sets commercial quota levels for member nations, including Australia, each year. However, southern bluefin tuna is also a popular âtrophyâ fish with recreational anglers and the size of the total recreational catch in Australia is unknown but thought to be significant. This study focuses on the recreational southern bluefin tuna catch at Portland, in southwest Victoria and is based on data collected during the 2010 fishing season. The results indicate that the size of the recreational catch at Portland is significant in terms of the management of the fishery. A travel cost study was undertaken to estimate the recreational value of the fishery. The on-site recreational use value (consumer surplus) per person per visit is estimated to be between $33 and $132 and the on-site annual recreational use value of the fishery for this one season is estimated to be between $449,533 and $1,325,124. |
| Keywords: | Travel cost method, recreational fishing, southern bluefin tuna, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100546&r=env |
| By: | Trisorio, Antonella; Borlizzi, Andrea |
| Abstract: | Farming practices and the conservation value of farmland are intimately interconnected. The recent policy debate has shed light on the need to address farming activities towards a more sustainable path, and has advocated for a reallocation of payments towards farming systems that provide public goods. This paper aims to explore likely HNV farms policy needs through the use of HNV farming system indicators. |
| Keywords: | High Nature Value, monitoring and evaluation, biodiversity indicator, farming systems., Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18, Q57, |
| Date: | 2011–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:100042&r=env |
| By: | Lui, Donsheng; Chen, Xie; Liu, Jianjie; Peng, Wei; Yuan, Mei; Huang, Dong |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a 10 years monitoring data set of 100 counties to examine the process, implementation and impacts of Chinaâs Conversion of Cropland to Forests Program (CCFP). A theoretical framework was constructed to explain the development of CCFG. We find that CCFG was originate from economic growth and will fulfill its goal by economic growth as it closely linked with rural poverty; Constrains such as income decline will finally be solved along with policy adjustment and economic growth; Huge amount of subsidies had been successfully delivered to farmers under strong administration and innovative policy; due to incentive incompatibility between farmersâ private interests and public benefit, we assume that CCFG only achieved second best ecological goals, but a better sustainability. The policy still faces many uncertainties due to climate change, rural development progress, et al. |
| Keywords: | International Development, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100536&r=env |
| By: | Cacho, Oscar; Hester, Susie |
| Abstract: | Invasive species can cause significant damage to natural environments, agricultural systems, human populations and the economy as a whole. Biological invasions are complex dynamic systems which are inherently uncertain and their control involves allocation of surveillance and treatment resources in space and time. A complicating factor is that there are at least two types of surveillance: active and passive. Active surveillance, undertaken by pest control agencies, has high sensitivity but generally low coverage because of its high cost. Passive surveillance, undertaken by the public, has low sensitivity and may have high coverage depending on human population density. Its effectiveness depends on the extent to which information campaigns succeed in engaging the public to help locate and report pests. Here we use a spatio-temporal model to study the efficient allocation of search and treatment resources in space and time. In particular we look for complementarities between passive and active surveillance. We identify strategies that increase the probability of eradication and/or decrease the cost of managing an invasion. We also explore ways in which the public can be engaged to achieve cost-effective improvements in the probability of detecting and eradicating a pest. |
| Keywords: | search theory, invasive species, dispersal, passive surveillance., Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100535&r=env |
| By: | Valenzuela, Ernesto; Anderson, Kym |
| Abstract: | Recent analyses of the possible adverse effects of climate change on agriculture in developing countries have raised food security concerns, especially for farm households whose crop productivity is expected to fall. The present study uses the GTAP global economy-wide model to capture at the same time the expected positive effects on temperate zone crop productivity, which will more or less offset the upward pressure on farm product prices from yield falls in developing countries. Also modelled is an expected adverse effect of higher temperatures and humidity on the productivity of unskilled workers in the tropics, but since they work in nonfarm as well as farm activities the net effect of that shock on agricultureâs competitiveness is an empirical matter. The results suggest there may be less cause for concern over food security than some earlier studies indicated, but the degrees of uncertainty involved in such modelling are sufficient to warrant a precautionary approach. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, crop and labour productivity growth, global computable general equilibrium model projections, Productivity Analysis, D58, F17, Q17, Q24, Q54, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100531&r=env |
| By: | Jayasinghe-Mudalige, UK; Udugama, JMM; Ikram, SMM |
| Abstract: | The effect of a set of private/market (i.e. financial implications, internal efficiency, market response) and public/non-market (i.e. government regulation, judiciary/legal system) incentives for a firm to act voluntarily on environmental quality is examined. It uses the levels of adoption of five solid waste management practices [SWMPs], namely: (1) 3R system; (2) Composting; (3) Good manufacturing practices; (4) Biogas unit, and (5) ISO 14000 by food processing sector in Sri Lanka in response to the prevalence of each incentive at the firm as the case. The data collected from 325 firms through in-depth interviews and site inspections and supported by a validated structured questionnaire were analyzed using the principles of Structural Equation Modeling. The âAnalysis of Moment Structuresâ (AMOS) software was used to establish the relationships between the levels of adoption of SWMPs and the strength of each incentive. The results show that firmsâ response to environment is relatively low, i.e. 49.2% did not adopt a single practice, while only 28%, 12%, 7.4%, 3.1% and 0.3%, respectively, have adopted 1, 2, 3, 4 or all practices. Firms tend to adopt a higher number of SWMPs as the relative strength of an each incentive perceived by the decision maker of firm gets increases. Firms put a higher weight on the impact on regulation and legal system than the private incentives and the firm size has a substantial impact on its response to the environment. The results highlight the importance of bringing the current public regulatory regimes in developing countries like Sri Lanka towards co-regulation, which is practiced by developed countries like Australia and Canada to facilitate businesses to come up with own solutions for environmental and food quality, as the outcome of this analysis points out that firmsâ compliance to the recommended SWMP was not triggered satisfactorily by the private/voluntary action. |
| Keywords: | Environment management, Food processing sector in Sri Lanka, Incentives, Regulation, Solid waste management, Voluntary adoption, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare11:100567&r=env |
| By: | Akpalu, Wisdom (Department of History, Economics and Politics, Farmingdale State College, State University of New York); Vondolia, Godwin K. (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Fishers in developing countries do not have the resources to acquire advanced technologies to exploit offshore fish stocks. As a result, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea requires countries to sign partnership agreements with distant water fishing nations (DWFNs) to exploit offshore stocks. However, for migratory stocks, the offshore may serve as a natural marine reserve (i.e., a source) to the inshore (i.e., sink); hence these partnership agreements generate spatial externality. In this paper, we present a bioeconomic model in which a social planner uses a landing tax (ad valorem tax) to internalize this spatial externality. We found that the tax must reflect the biological connectivity between the two patches, intrinsic growth rate, the price of fish, cost per unit effort and social discount rate. The results are empirically illustrated using data on Ghana.<p> |
| Keywords: | Spatial fishery management; ad valorem tax; exclusive economic zone; developing countries |
| JEL: | N57 Q22 Q28 Q56 Q57 |
| Date: | 2011–02–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0490&r=env |
| By: | Kimmo Marttila; Juha Honkatukia |
| Abstract: | Abstract This study evaluates the effects of changes in energy taxes on energy consumption between the years 1995 and 2004 using an applied, general equilibrium model for a historical simulation. During this period, Finnish energy taxation was fundamentally changed, going from an up-stream, emission and energy content-based approach to one with a mixed fuel and electricity tax. The change put the burden more closely on the users of electricity and fuels. We find that while the sharp increases in energy prices since 1995 have significantly restricted the growth of energy demand, energy taxes have also been effective in curbing the growth of energy and especially electricity consumption. For transport fuels, the effective tax rate actually fell as the price net of tax increased over time. Nevertheless, for petrol and light fuel oil we do find the taxes to have slowed down overall demand growth. |
| Keywords: | Energy taxes, emission, economic growth |
| Date: | 2011–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:resrep:162&r=env |
| By: | Targetti, Stefano; Viaggi, Davide; Cuming, David |
| Abstract: | A comprehensive quantification of biodiversity in farming systems would require a very significant amount of work (and funds) even for a small area. Therefore, biodiversity indicators are needed to solve the problem of the measurement feasibility. Even though the issue of cost and effectiveness is central for the evaluation of the indicators, only the latter is discussed in detail in the scientific literature. This work presents a cost analysis based on the direct gathering of records from a farm-scale biodiversity survey (EU-FP7, BioBio - âIndicators for biodiversity in organic and low-input farming systemsâ) where the analysis of costs is part of the project. It is a simple method for comparing different indicators by their ratio of cost/effectiveness. Here we present the results from the French case study (Gascony Hills, Midi-Pyrenees Region). |
| Keywords: | biodiversity, cost-effectiveness, indicator costs, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q2, |
| Date: | 2011–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa122:99585&r=env |
| By: | Mikkola, Minna; Risku-Norja, Helmi; Post, Anna |
| Abstract: | Food businesses feel the call for sustainable development (SD). This paper about the Finnish and Swedish food system actors about their understanding of and activities towards sustainability shows that there is commitment for solving aspects of sustainability and different strategies to do this. However, the food businesses also seem to get entangled with various dilemmas regarding sustainability, and to perceive contradictions between economic, environmental and social issues; however, these situations may also turn synergistic. The businesses studied expressed commitment to sustainable solutions interpreted by their sustainability strategies. The first identified strategy was a 'selfâmade' effort, whereby businesses absorbed economically, environmentally and socially 'positive' ideas and implemented them in their activities. The second strategy was based on labels and included the certification of the environmental and/or social quality management system, the use of particular labelled products and local food. The third strategy for critical coâoperation within the chain meant learning about oneâs food networks in coâoperation with other network actors, experts or brokers. These strategies seemed to impact differently on the sustainable development of the organizations on the one hand and the chain level on the other. Label based strategies offered more visibility than âselfâmadeâ strategies, which may, however, support extensive sustainability efforts or remain narrow saving strategies implying the risk to miss the opportunity for chain level development. As a rather rare approach, the critical coâoperation strategy may upgrade sustainable developments both on the organizational and chain level. Participatory research supporting creative and contextual sustainability developments was suggested as a promising future option for food businesses to aim at organizational and system wide SD. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2010–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi10:100462&r=env |
| By: | Ivan Muñiz Olivera (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona); Roser Masjuan (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona); Pau Morera (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona); Miguel Angel García López (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona; Institut d'Economia de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Trabajos anteriores han demostrado que gran parte de la variabilidad observada en la huella ecológica per cápita de los países puede explicarse a partir de las diferencias en renta per cápita y temperatura. La pregunta que nos planteamos en esta investigación es si el modelo urbano (densidad urbana y tamaño urbano) también puede ayudar a explicar dicha variabilidad. Los resultados obtenidos confirman el significativo impacto de la densidad urbana sobre la huella, por lo que controlar la dispersión urbana parece ser un mecanismo eficiente para reducir la huella ecológica de los países. En lugar de reflexionar sobre si las ciudades son o no son insostenibles por naturaleza, esta investigación se ha orientado de forma más operativa, intentando discernir qué tipo de modelo urbano contribuye en mayor medida a la sostenibilidad del planeta. |
| Keywords: | Ecological Footprint, urban form, urban sostenibility |
| JEL: | R14 Q51 Q57 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uab:wprdea:wpdea1103&r=env |